The Hart's Passion
by The Butterfly Effect
Summary: She listened to the dancing embers of the fireplace, their crackling igniting and somehow burning out together in a seductive dance of life and death. ‘Our life rising from the ashes.’ Kendall/Aiden/Greenlee/Babe/Richie Post Shelter: Let the Flames Begin!


**She loved him. The soft whisper of his hot breath pressed against her ear. The way his fingers lingered on her bare shoulder as she made an attempt to move the blankets over her slender body. The way her body threatened to break beneath the tingling sensation of his mouth touching her reddened cheek. She loved him and he loved her back. He wrapped one finger around her brown curls, pulling it in a gentle tightness, teasing her. Kendall Hart smiled. Pretending she was her fiery self, she swatted his hand away from her, and reluctantly his hand fell against her face before falling onto the wooden floor they both had fallen asleep on. **

"**Amazing." Kendall whispered, her breath soft, her chest rising and falling beneath the blanket she wore.**

She curled her body against his own, listening to the dancing embers of the fireplace, their crackling igniting and somehow burning out together in a seductive dance of life and death. '_**Our life rising from the ashes.'**_** Kendall thought while rubbing her bare leg against his own.**

**She sighed her own paralyzing sigh. The quietness that sent the strongest man to his knees, and the biggest Romeo to abandon his fair Juliet's balcony for Kendall's own home in Pine Valley. Pine Valley, her home, their home with their children Spike, who had been recovering from surgery, and Ian, who was finally home at last where he belonged. She loved him and she was never going to let him out of her sight, for her and their children needed him more than he would have wanted to know.**

"**Life would be a hell of a lot less complicated with you gone," she whispered, her smile breaking out, and her voice with a laughter tilt. She had not even gazed at him since their love making a few moments previous, but she knew he was watching her. She could feel his eyes scanning the shape of her body in the semi-darkness and she ran her hand be hind her, feeling his shoulder until she reached his strong hand and gave it a delicate squeeze. "But not as fun" she breathed.**

**She had dreamed of this moment. Of the moment where he would return home, grab her from where she had laid asleep for days since his disappearance, and hold her against his chest. Of the moment where he would carry her from their living room and take her somewhere where the both of them could be alone, where they would be able to shut out the rest of the world behind a closed door and lock all of Pine Valley, all of them that had given up hope of his return, and make love with her beneath the moonlight streaming through their private hide away. **

**Kendall Hart was in love.**

**She turned around, holding the blanket against her body with one slender arm, and gazed through the darkness until she met his eyes and then—**

"**Kendall," Her eyes snapped open and Kendall Hart Slater bolted upright in her bed. "Kendall, you awake?"**

_**Dreams meant nothing.**_** Kendall thought as the bedroom door opened and her husband, tall, handsome, and incredibly strong, Zach Slater walked into the room, a smile on his face, dressed in his best.**

"**What do you think?" Zach asked, his arms outstretched for a fraction of a second. "Shaved this morning."**

_**Aidan meant nothing.**_** Kendall swallowed, closing her eyes for a moment and then opening them again, hoping the remainder of the dream would fall out of her mind. **

"**You alright?" Zach asked, his smile fading, replaced with a concerned frown.**

**Kendall nodded. "Just things with Greenlee." **

**His eyes gazed her over. His eyes full of love that rescued her from the darkness a million times in the past, her own self-created darkness. His eyes knowing—**_**Please don't let him know.**_** Kendall turned her own eyes toward the desk beside the bed where photographs and neat wooden frames lined the area. One was of Spike holding a ball out in his hands, a smile on his face and his brown hair a mess, and another of Zach holding Ian when Ian was still a confined resident to Pine Valley hospital no thanks to Greenlee—**_**No not going there**_** Kendall shook her head.**

**The Fusion paperwork was hidden behind the photographs in their neat brown folder stamped with the Fusion logo. It was Amanda's idea to have everything organized down to a T and Babe's idea to make the logo required for every bit of work—,"To ensure Fusion would remain every woman's empowerment. Even our own." They had all agreed. All of them: Babe, Amanda, Ava, Annie, Greenlee, and Kendall herself.**

"**To Fusion!" Greenlee had said, raising the glass against their own. "And the drama that goes along with running a company."**

"**Really back?" Kendall had questioned herself, "Everything's back."**

"**Greenlee's fine," Zach said shortly, confidant, sure of everything he knew and had believed in. "It's you who needs to worry about yourself now." He didn't move, just stood there, his arms across his chest. He stood tall, sure, and Kendall would have to accept that even if it meant lying to him the longer days dragged on.**

**Fusion had become Kendall Hart's safe haven those past few weeks. The meetings that had to be scheduled kept her running enough that thoughts of Aidan Devane remained merely drifted through her mind for seconds before dying out. There was that new sponsor Babe had brought up during their party a few nights ago. That would definitely keep Kendall busy with all that marketing that had to be completed before the Sponsor's fashion show.**

"**He's your brother," Babe said, walking toward Annie with the latest Fusion Stock report in her hand, flipping through the pages. She tossed it onto the table beside the latest add for Fusion Green, an airbrushed portrait of Ava Benton holding a bottle of their perfume. Airbrushed around the hair that was, making sure her blonde locks looked natural despite not being so. "He's dying."**

"**This is one of his games, Babe," countered Annie, her hands on her hips, her fingers grazing against the sides of her long form-fitting beige dress. Her hair pulled neatly into a high ponytail and her face showing the exact amount of sleep she had been getting, almost none. "He's sick, Babe, sick."**

**Annie tried to turn away but Babe gently took her by the arm and turned Annie to face her. "He's your brother and he's dying," Babe said softly, her voice enough to make anybody feel guilty to the core. It never made Annie entirely change her mind in the past, but it had weakened her. "At least get tested."**

**Annie shook her head. The elevator doors opened and closed, giving Annie the moment she needed to free herself. She pulled away from her co-worker and went to the nearest table to leaf through their latest merchandise for sale just as Fusion co-owner Greenlee Smyth walked into the office. Babe picked up the stock report and began looking through it again. Her long blue dress clung tightly to her body as she walked to take a seat beside Kendall at the nearest table.**

"**Is this some kind of funeral?" Greenlee asked, taking a folder from one of the other works and grabbing a seat at the table. She began going through the file when she pushed her hair back behind her ear and picked up a pen in her hand. She pressed the end of the pen against her lips. "At least we'd die with Fusion stock soaring."**

"**Thanks to Fusion Green," Babe said, picking up a cup of coffee with her free hand. She took a sip and then set it down again. "Sales have been rising since you two decided to be civil to each other." **

**Greenlee dropped the folder onto the table. "We need something more for Fusion," she announced, pen pressed against mouth and eyes blazing. "Something sexy, strong. Something that screams Fusion without being out there like other companies."**

**Babe stood up, holding the report to her chest. "Something romantic, confusing, but romantic."**

"**Something reliable," said Annie, her voice with a sharp tone directed at Babe. "Something not poisonous and overbearing."**

**Kendall snapped from her thoughts. Taking a moment to swallow the whole situation, to compose herself, she said after a moment, "A fragrance that's independent."**

"**And different," said Greenlee. "Sexy and different."**

**Ava stormed into the room, her black headband sliding down her blonde hair, her grin wide. "Something Ava!" she said, throwing her arms into the air before falling into a seat beside them all, the chair spinning slightly, steadying itself. "Did you see those newest print ads?" **

**Kendall closed her eyes, and when she did it was not her husband that had seen staring at her. It was not his eyes looking her up and down. It was not his hands touching her arms, rubbing against her soft skin. It was not his body holding her close, feeling the warmth from hers and her receiving the warmth from his. It was Aidan Devane, her now again best friend's boyfriend, not her Zach Slater that continued to hold her in her dreams.**

**It was not meant to be. **_**It was not supposed to be**_**, she reminded herself. **

**It was a moment made with a mixture of fear and depression hanging through the air. The moment both of them had believed after all that time that, their loved ones might have been lost in those woods, never to be found. The moment where her head hit against the pillow of the bed that lay in that cold house, during that snowstorm going on around them, that Kendall Hart Slater had given up hope that she would ever see Zach again. **

**They hadn't thought. They hadn't talked. It was kissing without the emotions. It was holding without the caressing. His touch was haunting her body, locking her mind and paralyzing herself. His bare skin pressed against hers that made having dinner with her husband almost unbearable. His breath against her ear that made her body threaten to shut down when Zach would hold her close and whisper something sweet to her.**

"**Earth to Kendall," Kendall opened her eyes and there in front of her was Greenlee, Aidan's girlfriend from both before, during, and after the bomb shelter event. During the time, she had slept with Greenlee's boyfriend. Her Aidan. "Spacing out on us?" **

**Kendall snapped out of it. "No," she said, looking around the room. Babe was fixing herself another cup of Coffee while Annie was on the phone, her finger twisted around the phone cord, her voice ringing through the air, and a smile on her face. Ava was pouring over the latest Fusion print ad. "Planning for our new fragrance."**

"**It should be something that would be worn to get a man to hold you tightly," said Greenlee, a lift to her voice. "You know romantic, kind of like Aidan."**

**His arms wrapped around her. His shirt lying on the floor along with her own. His hand running up and down her bare back. "Aidan?" said Kendall, looking on the desk for some paperwork to pick up and look through. She found a folder, and without paying attention, opened it, turning page after page.**

**  
"You know how romantic he can get, Kendall." Greenlee laughed. **

**Kendall let go of the folder and sat bolt upright. "What's that supposed to mean." She snapped. **

"**Nothing," said Greenlee. "Just, you know, you two were together once."**

**Torture. Kendall had spent months planning her revenge against Greenlee Smyth for what she believed to have been what had caused her son, Spike's, deafness, but now she felt nothing but guilt toward the woman standing in front of her. A sickening guilt that lumped itself together in the bottom of her stomach. **

**And Greenlee just stood there, paperwork in hand, thinking about Fusion, fragrances, and Aidan Devane while Kendall thought about betrayal, about Zach sensing something different in the way she kissed, and about Aidan's lips brushing against her own. It was unimaginable torture. **

"**Ancient history," said Kendall, forcing herself to smile. "He's yours now."**

**The time spent between traveling from Fusion to home usually had Kendall occupied with left over paperwork or a novel to finish reading when she didn't take her car. When she drove, Kendall usually would have a radio station playing or she would keep the car quiet and think to herself. This time as she opened her car door, slid into the seat, buckled her seatbelt, and turned the key in the ignition, she prayed for the radio to play a song to keep her mind off Aidan and Greenlee. **

**It would be a long ride home.**

**When Kendall walked through the door that evening, she hung her coat up on the rack and looked around the room. Zach had not greeted her at the door, nor did Ian cry and Spike—**_**Right**_**, Kendall reminded herself, **_**Spike and Ian were with Rachel tonight**_**. She had to get a grip on herself before she fell apart. **

"**Ah, your home," said Zach, walking through their living room and giving Kendall a hug and a quick kiss. He took a seat on the sofa and motioned for her to join him. "How was work?"**

_**Eventful**_**, Kendall wanted to say. **_**Eventful with work and nothing else.**_


End file.
